Sprints vs Jogging? – It’s not even close
- Image via Wikipedia
For anyone who has perused my website, you’ll know that I’m not a big fan long distance running, or jogging. From my point of view, jogging is an example of an exercise that only foolish man with his big brain could come up with. It is not a natural exercise, but rather one that man fools himself into thinking is a good idea. No other animal in nature jogs. Animals either walk wherever they want to go, or sprint as fast as they can to catch (or to avoid becoming) food. You’ll never see a bear or lion jogging around a fitness track, that’s for sure. They have too much common sense for that.
So, If I’m not a fan of jogging, what am I a fan off? In a word SPRINTS. Or, more specifically, HILL SPRINTS.
Hill Sprints are one of the exercises I cover in new eBook “Functional Fitness – Natural Bodyweight Exercises for Men and Women”. NFL superstars such as Walter Payton and Marcus Allen have used them to build explosive speed, power, and (take a special not here) endurance. Other athletes use them as well, including speed skaters and wrestlers.
How do you perform a Hill Sprint?
Well, first you want to find a Hill with an easy gradient. You don’t want anything too steep. Now, start at the bottom and sprint AS FAST AS YOU CAN for a maximum of 30 seconds. Once your reach the top, turn around and walk down the hill and catch your breath. Once you’re at the bottom, sprint again. Do this 5 times, if you can. Trust me when I say this, the workout you’ll get from this IS FAR SUPERIOR to anything you’ll get with jogging. Your lungs will feel like they’re on fire, your blood will be racing through your veins, and you’ll experience a “Runners High” unlike any you’ve had in the past.
One of the biggest advantages of these kinds of sprints is that they flood your body with natural Human Growth Hormone (HGH). Human Growth Hormone is the fitness and anti-aging hormone. It is used to build your body up. Many bodybuilders and anti-aging types frequently take artificial injections of HGH in order to tone up and build muscle. The poor fools. Hill Sprints can increase natural HGH production by as much as 530%! What’s more, the HGH levels will remain elevated for 1.5 to 2 hours after the sprints are done. This means your body will be in an elevated fat burning state for that period. Your just don’t get this with jogging. In essence, sprints build your body up (take a look at the powerful physiques of Olympic Sprinters for examples of this), whereas long distance running tears it down. There’s just no comparison.
I remember the first time I did a Hill Sprint. I was still in my jogging phase, but I’d read about the Hill Sprints, and I wanted to try them out.
I got up early one morning and went to a Hill close by. I had to get up early as I live in the city, and I wanted the Hill that I used (which was a road) to be fairly traffic free. I remember standing at the base of this mild hill thinking, “I’ll do 5 of these, and then go back home and do the rest of my bodyweight exercises. Shouldn’t be too hard!”
Was I in for a shock.
After the first sprint, I was almost done. I was gasping for air and my legs were absolutely burning. I walked down the Hill, and did it again. This time, I only sprinted for half the distance, and I was done. I nearly threw up into some poor persons Rose garden! I couldn’t believe it. I staggered back home and laid down on my bed for the next hour. No bodyweight exercises for me that day! One and a half sprints and I was done. Amazing.
Just one further point for all of you joggers out there. If you insist on jogging, feel free. However, you might want to consider at least mixing in some Hill Sprints. I remember when I was training for a run once. I was making great progress following this program, but then my knees started to bother me. In essence, I was 3/4 of the way through my training program, and I couldn’t train anymore! Very frustrating. As I said before, running breaks your body down. Anyway, I didn’t know it at the time, but I bet if I had switched my training to Hill Sprints, I could have kept training and actually IMPROVE my running times.
Believe it or not, I’ve known of some people who have DRAMATICALLY increased their marathon times by focusing on Sprinting. Trust me on this. Sprints build your body up, running tears it down.
My Bodyweight Exercises Workout Log
Shame on me. I again skipped my morning bodyweight exercises routine. However, I still dragged my sorry ass to Yoga at night. Like I’ve said before, you don’t need to do EVERYTHING everyday, just do SOMETHING.
In Tomorrow’s Bodyweight Exercises Blog
Well, it won’t be tomorrow, as I’m not planning on blogging on the weekend. Still, in Monday’s post I’m planning on talking about aging and metabolism. Are you condemned to a slowing metabolism s you age, and are they related? Tune in Monday to find out.
Have a great weekend!
Dave
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February 13th, 2009 at 6:45 am
I love to do sprint intervals during my runs. The benefits yes but the adrenaline rush is awesome as well! Very nice post!
February 13th, 2009 at 7:12 am
[...] One of my favorite new blogs The Bodyweight Exercise Blog. [...]
February 13th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Sprints are just an incredible form of exercise. Anyone who’s tried them will attest to that.
February 14th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Great stuff Dave, you’ve got the right attitude about training!
February 15th, 2009 at 5:50 am
I love me some sprints. Try to do a session about two times a week usually on an empty stomach first thing in the morning……The beauty of them is the whole workout takes me about 15-20 minutes from the moment I leave my door and its amazingly effective. Thanks for the detailed post on HGH very interesting stuff……
February 15th, 2009 at 10:49 am
I think we see eye to eye on a lot of this stuff :)
February 15th, 2009 at 10:51 am
It’s true, there’s really nothing else like doing sprints. From my experience, a few sprints is the same as jogging 10 miles, but without the negative side effects.
February 15th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
I’m so doing a hill sprint tomorrow! And maybe even 2???
February 15th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
It all depends on what you can handle. The first time I did them, 1 and 1/2 were plenty. Make sure the hill you use isn’t too steep! Good luck!
February 28th, 2009 at 5:49 am
How long does the hill incline need to be? Here in Florida hills are hard, if not impossible to find. Are there benefits from doing sprints on a flat surface if I can’t find a hill? I’m so addicted to regular running; how do I get my mindset off the idea that I’m getting something out of it? I’m losing weight with it, but is that all the muscle I’ve gained through my resistance training? Sorry for all the questions.
Debbie
February 28th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Hi Debbie,
I usually don’t do any blogging on the weekend, as I’m busy doing other things. However, I saw your post and I think you are asking a lot of great questions. I don’t have time to answer them now, but I’m planning on covering them in Monday’s blog post. Stay tuned.
March 29th, 2009 at 2:32 am
Woppii!!!I am going to do a hill sprint tomorrow!
:)
March 29th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
I think you’re going to be amazed at how effective they are. Good luck!
April 14th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
hey, cool post.
i have a few questions, right now i’m pretty unfit, so will jogging everyday (and increasing the distance each day) help when it comes to doing hill sprints? i ran 1.1km in 5m20secs yesterday and my heart rate was at around 185 (i’m 16)
will jogging like this increase hgh levels if i keep going and my heart rate is at that level?
thanksa lot
April 17th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Hi Bob,
Sorry for the late reply on this, but I didn’t see your comment and I had to rescue it from the Spam cue. Two points:
1) Jogging will do little if anything at all to increase your HGH levels.
2) Running Hill Sprints 3 times a week will help you with your running. Running will not help you with Hill Sprints.
You might want to try running Hill Sprints 3 times a week for a month, then try jogging again. I think you’ll be surprised at how much faster you can jog now. What’s more, with the muscle you’ll gain and the fat you’ll lose, you may decide to skip the jogging altogether.
- Dave
April 17th, 2009 at 10:25 am
ok thanks…guess all i gotta do now is find a hill lol
April 19th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
hi again dave, there arent any hills around this area
so instead of running up hills full speed for 30 seconds, could i run on a flat pavement full speed for twice as long? what about cycling on a stationery bike full speed for 40 second or so intervals with the resistance turned up about 3/4 the way?
thanks mate
April 20th, 2009 at 8:16 am
I’m not a big fan of stationary bikes, but they are all helpful. However, you might want to try the flat land sprint routine I outlined in an earlier post. Here it is
http://bodyweight-exercises.animal-kingdom-workouts.com/?p=93
April 21st, 2009 at 9:31 pm
hey i checked out your link and will be trying that soon
i just did the 2 sets of cycling full power for 30 seconds with the resistance up and i’m feeling EXACTLY like what you described in your post…
April 21st, 2009 at 9:45 pm
oh yeah Dave, i’m a bit curious as to why i didn’t sweat at all whilst doing that, i usually sweat a lot even when just doing intense stretching
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:37 am
I don’t use the stationary bike, so I can only guess. However, I suspect the reason is that your body is not getting as much of a total body workout on an exercise bike as opposed to sprinting up a hill. The thing about machines, even a stationary bike, is that they “help” the body by keeping it stable. However, this ‘Help’ prevents your body from working as fully as it otherwise might. For example, even if you were riding a bike outside, your body must work harder just to keep it upright. Not to mention you have to steer to avoid obstacles, etc. If you ever get a chance, try sprinting outside. You’ll be sweating like crazy in no time.
August 6th, 2009 at 11:42 am
HI, so ive been a runner for 5 years and now just by accident started reading about the benefits of sprinting. Should I quit running altogther and just sprint.. if so how many sprints a week ?(Ive read nomore than 3 )
Does sprinting 3 times a week provide a better workout than running for 40 mins every day?? Sorry for the questions too! Many Thanks
August 7th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
In the end you have to do what figure out what works for you. If I were you I’d try sprinting 3 times a week for a month then see how you feel. From my experience you will feel better then doing the running. I think you can replace running with sprinting completely. On my main animal-kingdom site I’ve written a few articles on why I think this is so. Thanks for writing and good luck!
February 26th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
i have been a runner for 3 years and not until my senior year in high school did i discover the benefits of sprinting. running was my form of exercise, it was low intensity and i did it every day of the week for about 45-60 minutes. my results were good, i was thin and i had never been the thin one and it took me about 3 months to lose 30 pounds. not until i got into the track team did i see amazing results in just two weeks. my leg muscles were defined,my arms looked great, i grew a butt out of nowhere, and i had a flat stomach. i love sprinting so much, and it isn’t as time consuming as running. great results if you stick to it at least 6 times a week.
February 27th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Hi Crystal,
I’m curious. What kind of sprint training do you follow? What is a typical routine for you? I’m impressed that you do it 6 times a week!
Best,
Dave
February 28th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Hello Dave,
well usually, just basic warm ups for about ten minutes then about four 200m and two 400m. its good to change it up a bit, also sprinting a lap around the track as fast as you can is good too.i also would run 4 miles every other day along with my sprint routines, but it would be lighter.
i know it sounds easy, but it did not go without some serious pain.So Thank you for being impressed. when i barely started training, i could not feel my legs at all for about two weeks, but taking showers with cold water helps so that you’re not as sore. I love sprinting much more than just running, if someone had told me much earlier, i would have started it along time ago!
Crystal
March 19th, 2010 at 7:11 am
[...] http://bodyweight-exercises.animal-kingdom-workouts.com/?p=40 [...]
September 11th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Hi,
I have been weight training and jogging for over 18 months now. I think it was about 5 months ago I started to include sprints in my jogging and recently I sprint now more than jog. I also lift my wieghts faster now to increase intensity. I used to think jogging was the thing to do but sprints and intense weight routine is where I have ended up. I read your website and thank you for it because I get a lot of opinion from joggers and cyclists but they are always carrying injury and I have none. They also have less energy than me throughout the day because they are exhausted where as I feel great all day. I think they are wearing themselves out and I am building myself up and I feel like I want to exercise more and they see it as a drag. Interesting !
September 25th, 2011 at 4:27 am
I know this is old, but I only just read it. Wanted to add, I love sprinting!
My ex-rowing coach at my high school made us do hill sprints all the time as part of our land training, they were one of the core parts of the endurance routine we would do off the water.
Jogging we would do as recovery and warmup/warmdown, we would also get timed flat land sprints etc.
Now that I don’t do rowing anymore, I just can’t jog it takes too much time to get my heart rate up and too long to get a proper cardio exercise. + sprinting is just too damn fun :D !!!
December 18th, 2011 at 11:16 am
The first paragraph, about wild animals never engaging in behavior that would be equivalent to a human running a marathon, is a great point. I use the exact same rationalization to illustrate to people why sprinting, or simply walking, are both just naturally better for us than jogging.
I think carribeau jog marathons twice a year though.. only instance i can think of.. lol, but they evolved to be the gregarious organism they are. They dont train for their migrations, its an evolutionary adaptation humans simply do not have. Nor will we ever have it because running marathons is arbitrary to our survival and our reproduction. Its actually counterproductive to our sexual reproduction seeing as it kills your hormone levels. Just a few more things that make you wonder why on earth people run marathons.. “ooo weee, look what I can do!!” lol
July 27th, 2012 at 7:48 pm
How steep is steep? if i can only run for 15 seconds until i exhaust myself, does it count as hill sprints?
August 16th, 2012 at 9:05 am
“my point of view, jogging is an example of an exercise that only foolish man with his big brain could come up with. It is not a natural exercise, but rather one that man fools himself into thinking is a good idea. No other animal in nature jogs”
This is one of the most stupid things i`ve ever read. The reason that humans were so successful hunters was because they were able to run for long distances in the sun without overheating(Because of sweating) No other predator can do this. Its called Persistence hunting. This means its more natural for humans to jog than to sprint.
September 12th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Hey Dave ….will this sprint or should i say Hill Sprint reduce my belly and my lower chest fat??
October 22nd, 2012 at 1:36 pm
It will burn fat from all of your body, including your belly and chest. Note that men typically store fat on their belly first, and this is the last area to lean up, typically.
October 22nd, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Yes. The key is how hard you’re breathing. IF you’re gasping with that “out of breath” feeling after the workout, you’ve done your job.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Except for the simple fact that humans have hunted for millennia by a technique called “persistence hunting”. If you’ve never tried it I totally recommend it! It truly works. Humans (along with primates) are the only species to have Eccrine sweat glands, and they are the primary means of evaporative cooling. Most other mammals cool by panting, or other means! That means we are among the best long distance runners in the animal kingdom, at the expense of sprint speed. One Wyoming winter, a Great Pyrenees escaped from the house I was living at. I chased him down. It took nearly 40 minutes but they cannot pant while they run. He would sprint out ahead and pant, pant, pant. I’d gain on him and he’d take off again! I never lost sight of him and he eventually fell over due to exhaustion. Human win! Don’t try and reverse millions of years of evolution. We are this way for a purpose, as the 120 lb dog found out
December 15th, 2012 at 11:20 am
I’ve actually talked about this before. When the African Tribesmen are doing this they are not jogging. The goal is to keep the animal being hunted in sight at all times. This means they mostly walk, they only jog or run if necessary, and only to the point where the animal is back in sight. It’s nothing like doing a 45 minute run that people in North America associate with running. Thanks for the comment though!